Six Responsive Web Design Ideas for Designers

The emergence of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets with varied screen sizes, resolutions, and aspect ratios has posed a new challenge to Web designers. Responsive Web design has very little to do with a site’s aesthetics or design, but an effort to ensure that usability issues from using different devices to surf the website is needed. There are many strategies that Web designers employ to solve this, including the use of a fluid grid, which sizes page elements in relative units. Irrespective of the approach you use, it is important to bear in mind the following factors:

1. Readability: Ensure that that you keep sensible and legible typographical proportions applicable on each device by fine-tuning the layouts to the screen size. Readers shouldn't have to struggle to make out letters and numbers on a Web page.

2. Minimize Scrolling: Scrolling on a tiny screen size isn't convenient; try to minimize scrolling by discouraging lots of text/content in a single column. The reader will face difficulties trying to fish out the required content.

3. Make it Easy to Tap: Most mobile screens today are touch-enabled. Make it easier for the fingers to slide and tap on the required content or links by having sizable buttons. Bear in mind the finger sizes and make the calls to action legible.

4. Categorize Content: You need to decide what content remains visible at certain resolutions. Decide whether to entirely hide some content, minimize some sections or shrink some boxes to just one button. This will make it easier for users to quickly find required information on their devices.

5. Fluid Images: You definitely want an eye-catching website, but you should avoid filling the pages with all sorts of graphics, especially large images and videos. If you must, convert the media into mobile-friendly versions so that it doesn’t become too heavy and time-consuming to load. This will stretch to the hosting plan because the online community is not so known for patience, especially when searching for urgent information online and the site loads slowly.

6. Resolutions: While designing a responsive website, try to use similar content and HTML for all resolutions. Regardless of the number of page versions you create, stick to the same graphical elements. If you wish, you can start with the biggest of screens then shrink the elements for less resolution.

Apart from the points mentioned above, responsive website design is about your coding skills and imagination. Assume the position of the user, think about the experience, and try to fill any gaps in the design. In as much as responsive website design is an intricate process, a properly designed responsive site is more likely to attract more traffic and guarantee a better user experience. Web designers must go out of their way to give the users this memorable experience.

Finally, test the website on various browsers and mobile devices before launching. It is ambitious to try to get everything right with a first attempt, so test and make adjustments until you're convinced that everything looks good and works properly. While at it, don’t forget about your brand identity. Ensure that the mobile version is an exact replica of the desktop website.

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